Precious Sanctuary
by misterreese
Summary: "I told her that he was no good, I told her not to see him again." He fists curled under the table. "I told her that he'd ruin her life." Kevin pivoted his head a bit and took a deep breath. "And he ruined my marriage."
1. Convoluted Wordy Stuff

Snuggled between a clean set of silk sheets and a down comforter with the highest tread count available was the well known, best selling, author, Richard Castle. Rolling over, he pulled the covers to his chin and snored softly. Castle's leg jerked and he startled awake, sucking in air, causing him to snort as he jolted upright. He'd just had one of those dreams where you trip down a flight of stairs and wake up right before you land at the bottom. Castle rubbed his eyes and glanced at the alarm clock glowing on his night stand, four AM, it displayed in glowing green numbers.

After laying on his pillows for another second, finding that sleep didn't come back to him, he tossed the blankets off his body and swung his legs over the edge, letting his bare feet sink into the carpet. Castle forced himself off the king sized bed and out of the room. As he traveled down the hallway he passed by Alexis' empty room. She was staying the night at a friend's house, even though it was a school night, but they were finishing an English project then going to school together the next day.

Martha was also out on the town, some of her old college friends came into town. Although she didn't refer to themselves as old, since that'd imply they were old. So they were he 'former' college friends. Castle descended the steps and entered the darkness of the kitchen and living room. He heard something clatter, rubbing the grogginess and sleep from his eyes he squinted trying to make out the figure. "Mother?" He asked, wondering why she was home, because her and her 'former' friends were staying the night in a hotel.

Except, it wasn't Martha and suddenly there was a bright white light shining in his face, from a LED flashlight. Castle closed his eyes, for the sudden light stung his pupils. As his eyes were closed he heard the person in the house move quickly, there was a sudden pin-prick feeling in the back of his neck and a tingling sensation followed immediately. The bright light that was still shining in his face grew dimmer and dimmer by the second as Castle's body started to become weak and crumpled. He was on his knees, then face first on the floor, still fighting for his consciousness. When the dark figure was fed up by how slowly the author wasn't succumbing to the comatose state, the intruder whacked him on the back of the head with the heavy, metal flash light.

xxx

Detective Kate Beckett was called on to a crime scene just a few minutes before five in the morning. Her hair still wet from the quick shower she had taken, the detective ducked under the yellow tape with a coffee in hand. Ryan and Esposito were already around body, when they saw Beckett enter the taped off area they immediately came to her attention.

"What's the situation?" Beckett asked, handing her coffee to a uniformed officer.

Ryan glanced at his partner and then back to Kate. Esposito did the same, they both stayed quite. "Guys? I wasn't called down here for nothing." She said, placing her hands squarely on her slender hips.

Finally Esposito spoke up. "Vic is a young female, early twenties, a couple of uniformed officers found her this morning." His voice trailed off, a glance over to Ryan, a subconscious nudge for him to take over.

Ryan caught the hint and picked up where his partner stopped. "She was found clutching a piece of paper." He said and reviled a plastic evidence bag that held a blood stained piece of paper, that had been smoothed out after being crinkled.

Beckett perked an eyebrow and took the bag from his hand, the back side was blank but she flipped it over and in a very old style, script, handwriting the words _'You will, on no account, discover you're precious sanctuary.' _Kate looked up to the two men. "And what does this mean?"

They both shrugged. "We have no idea." Ryan said as he took the evidence back from Beckett. "We figured, Castle might have an idea, since it's all convoluted, wordy, stuff…"

Esposito looked at him, "You go from using 'convoluted' to wordy stuff?"

"Hey, it's early." Ryan quipped, defending himself. Esposito just shook his head and the two detectives went back to work, not letting the bicker about contrast in word choice end.

Beckett rolled her eyes and turned to go the victim. Speaking of Castle, she took her phone from her pocket and pressed send twice, he was the last person she had called. Holding the phone to her ear as she approached the deceased women. There was no answer, the detective didn't think much of it, for she was distracted when Lanie started to tell her about the preliminary findings.

The medical examiner clearly had a nice night, because her make-up was still done up and her hair was in tight curls, and the heels she was wearing also gave that away. "Have a nice night?" Kate asked as she approached.

"Yes, and it wasn't over either." Lanie stated with a bit of bite to her voice, not even looking away from the body. "From what I can tell she was killed by blunt force trauma to the temporal lobe. I'm placing time of death between midnight at three AM. " She said, pointing towards the area of impact with the pen she was writing with. Beckett made note of the wound in her mind. Lanie continued, "The strange part," she moved the deceased woman's shirt up. "She's covered in small puncture wounds."

Beckett crouched down to get a closer look. "What are they covered in?" She was referring to the black substance around each wound. Lanie shrugged.

"I'm not sure, I'll run some tests when I get her back to the lab." Lanie added, which was always the case, there wasn't to many definitive answers she could give when she was in the middle of central park.

Kate raised up and thanked her. "Call me when you are updated." Lanie nodded and with her final words, Kate left to find out more about the recent victim. She also placed one more phone call to Castle, figuring he just wanted to sleep in and ignored her last call, it went to his voice mail again.

'_You've reached Richard Castle, I'm either busy or doing something more important that you. Leave a message and I'll return your call as soon as I see necessary.' _Kate just hung up the phone and didn't bother to leave a message. She looked at the blinking end time and wondered what he was doing.

xxx

A muffled groan escaped his lips, Castle blinked as he tried to focus his eyes to take in his surroundings, but the room was too dark and his head hurt to much. He went to move but found his hands bound behind his back, and his feet secured together. Another second later and he realized that there was a cotton cloth gagging him. Castle's eyes closed quickly when a bright light turned on and flooded the room with white illumination.

Once the contrast of the room became clear he saw that he was in a giant warehouse, tied to a tall steel support. The space was cluttered with all sorts of junk and the floor that he was sitting on was filthy and cold. His eyes darted around the room and he heard a metallic clank echo through the room and his ears, someone was coming. Castle squirmed but there was no getting free, he was tied, chained and latched into place and wasn't going anywhere. Who ever was coming grew louder and louder, followed by a rhythmic tapping sound.

The person was a few feet away, a silhouette casting long on the floor. The writer closed his eyes and the tapping, or clicking, sound stopped. A few long seconds later and Castle opened one eye to see the individual sitting in a chair, three feet in front of him, staring, watching, calculating. Castle's eyes were wide as the being introduced another syringe into his view. "This won't hurt a bit." A laugh escaped into the air and the space between Castle and the person closed, another sharp injection and Castle faded out of reality and back into unconsciousness.


	2. Allie Inskeep

Ryan and Esposito reconvened with Beckett back at the station around seven o'clock. "So what do we know about her?" The detective asked, "Do we have a name?"

"So far she's just another Jane Doe." Esposito said, sitting on the very edge of his desk, Ryan standing between him and Beckett.

"Were there any witnesses?" Beckett asked as she posted the photograph of the piece of paper from the victim's hand to the white board.

"Uniforms are walking the area, asking to see if any one saw anything, heard anything. The usual." Esposito said as he reached behind him to grab his mug of coffee that he had poured earlier that morning.

As the three were debating the situation, an officer walked up to them and handed Kate an evidence bag that had a slender, women's wallet inside. "We found this in the bushes, picture on the ID matches your victim." The officer said, Beckett took it from him and thanked him. Then the officer left to get back to work.

Kate looked at the ID. "Allie Inskeep, thirty-two years old." She said reading it off and handing it to Ryan. "Contact next of kin to ID the body and bring them in, let's see if we can't find out if there was any reason someone would want her dead." The two male detectives nodded and quickly dispersed to get the job done. Beckett looked at Castle's empty seat by her desk and pursed her lips. Removing her phone she called him again.

This time there was an answer, except it wasn't Castle, it was Martha. "Oh, hello Mrs. Rodgers," Kate said, surprised that it was her picking up. "Is Castle there?"

"No, he's not here. I assumed he was with you, but forgot his phone. Which is a bit strange, since he also left his wallet behind as well." Martha said as she sat at the bar in the kitchen, sipping on a water.

Beckett furrowed her brow. "Oh, well, will you call if you hear from him?" Martha promised she would, they said their good byes and hung up. Kate pocketed her phone, looked at the white board and sat down to work.

xxx

Castle had no idea how long he had been out, the last time he could remember was four in the morning. This time, when he regained his sense of awareness, he realized that he was no longer bound to a steel pole on the ground, but was sitting in a wooden chair. Richard's hands and feet we connected to the arms and legs of the seat by plastic cable ties. He pulled against them, but it was no use, he wasn't going to break them. This time his mouth wasn't gagged either.

"Don't be alarmed." Said a light voice. Castle looked up quickly, he was separated from the person that kidnapped him, by long table with a white table cloth, set completely for dinner. "I'm not going to hurt you, Richard." The voice said, there was almost a hint of reassuring pleasure to it.

"You're not?" He asked rhetorically. "Well, I feel so much better, considering you already whacked me upside the head and injected me with who knows what." Castle said and squirmed a bit in his seat. "Who are you, anyway?"

"You don't remember me? Oh Richard, I'm hurt." Castle watched as the person stood up to push over a cart that had a freshly prepared dinner under a metal cover. "College? Psychology 101?" A pout formed over their face. "You really don't remember me?"

The alarmed author looked at the kidnapper. She was petite, long blonde hair, radiant blue eyes and a set of legs that could kill a man, if in the right conditions. Castle shook his head and bit his lip. He couldn't remember her, he didn't even remember taking a psychology class. "I'm sorry, I really don't."

Clearly his words upset her more than he though the would. She stood quickly to her feet and grabbed one of the steak knifes that was sitting with the rest of the silverware. "Now, that is no talk for the dinner table!" She shouted and pointed the knife at him. Castle tensed up as she grew closer. "We loved one another, I loved you and you loved me! We were meant to be, soul mates!" She cried, stopping a foot away from Castle holding the knife out, the cool serrated edge rested on Castle's cheek bone.

With fearful eyes he looked at the blade then back up to the crazed women. "I was kidding!" He quickly said, anything to get her away from him. "Of course, I remember you-" He went to say her name, but he had the faintest idea of what it would be. "Honey." Castle quickly added and cleared his throat.

Although the women saw right threw his ruse. "My name is Samantha Jackobs." She waved the knife around again, tapping it on the tip of Castle's nose. "And for not knowing, you don't get any dinner." Samantha sat down in her seat, Castle relaxed, but still made sure to keep a careful eye on this insane women.

Samantha Jackobs? That name seemed like it should be familiar but Rick couldn't place it. Samantha loaded her plate with steak, potatoes, corn, carrots and a bread roll, creating an aroma that made Castle's mouth water.

xxx

Sitting in interrogation room 2 was the parents of Allie Inskeep, Robert and Naomi. They didn't have any other children. Naomi's eyes were puffy and wet when Detective Beckett walked in. On the other side of the one way glass mirror, Ryan and Esposito stood watching intently. "Hello Mister and Misuses Inskeep, I'm Detective Kate Beckett, the lead on your daughter's case." The couple just nodded a hello in return.

This was always the hard part, asking such sensitive questions in a time where it seems like the world is ending. "Do either of you know any person that would want to harm Allie?" One of the standard questions every detective asked.

"No, there isn't a soul I could think of." It was the father talking, Naomi was a wreck and clearly couldn't bring herself to even make a peep. "Everyone loved Allison, she volunteered at homeless shelters, and soup kitchens. Donated money to almost every charity." Robert had to take a moment to collect himself. "My daughter had no enemies."

The interview went on, and from all the information that Kate had collected she came to the conclusion that Allie was a saint and there wasn't a single person that would have wanted harmed her. Her gut also told her that the victim's parents were not involved in the murder so she wasn't even going to bother asking for an alibi. Just as the Inskeep's were leaving, Naomi turned to the detective.

"I know this is strange- but are you not the detective working with author, Richard Castle?" She asked, her voice timid and quite.

Kate nodded. "Yes I am. Why?" A bit confused how this related to the case.

Naomi has to compose her face, thinking of her daughter made it crumple with sadness and tears flowed free. "It's just she was such a huge fan of his, almost infatuated with him." She swallowed and even smiled a bit. "She always joked about his last name, and would say that reading his books would take her to a 'precious sanctuary', seems silly now."

Detective Beckett was nodding, but when Naomi mentioned those last words her face showed pure puzzlement. "If you excuse me-" She said, her mind clearly else where, leaving the couple to return to the whiteboard. Ryan and Esposito quickly joined, overhearing what the wife was saying. Quickly she wrote on the board _'You will, on no account, discover your precious sanctuary.' _She capped the marker and turned to the two detectives.

"I have a feeling that Castle is tied into this." She said and stared at her writing and under it wrote something else, that she read aloud. "You will, never, find Castle."


	3. Leaky Faucet

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. Here it is, have fun!  
(Oh, and I don't own Castle, if I did, I be with Nathan Fillion all the time, not writing fanfictions.)

* * *

"Beckett-" Esposito began, he glanced at the female detective's hand writing and shook his head. "That just has to be a coincidence." He tried to refute her claim. "Just because one woman happens to say the same two words on that note does not mean, we'll never find Castle. Is he even missing?"

Kate understood where Javier was making his point, it didn't seem like there was not a lot of evidence to support her theory. "What time is it?" She asked randomly, not really directing the question to anyone in particular.

"Fifteen after four." Ryan said, looking at his watch.

"Four in the afternoon and we haven't heard a word from Castle yet?" She asked, this time, facing Esposito. The detective shrugged his shoulders.

"And?" He questioned, which knowing Castle that was a slight possibility.

"I called him three times, the first two times he didn't answer. The third time his mother answered. She said he left his phone and wallet at home and since then, I haven't gotten any word that he's checked in." Beckett said. As she paused to think she suddenly became very worried. "Castle has been kidnapped and we have no idea when, where or by who." She quickly turned to the board. "Right now all we have is Inskeep as the connection."

The three detectives brain stormed and filled in Captain Montgomery as he came by. Now the four were working on figuring everything out, although they weren't getting anywhere fast. A young, brown eyed officer approached Beckett from behind and tapped her on the shoulder. "Detective Beckett?" He asked. She turned on a heel to face the uniformed man.

"That's me." She confirmed, the man then promptly handed her a case file.

"They found another body."

xxx

Samantha had left Castle alone for the last several hours. She kept him strapped to the wooden chair, but she had removed all the objects from the room and turned the lights off. The author sat in complete darkness. In the background a leaky faucet was dripping. He'd timed it perfectly. Every three and half seconds another water droplet would fall and make him have to use the restroom just that much more. Castle tapped his foot in double time compared to the sound of the dripping.

His fingernails dug into the arms of the chair, wood shavings were jammed under the tips of his short nails. In his attempts to break free, the plastic cable ties started to rub his skin raw around his wrists and ankles, causing them to bleed. Samantha didn't just leave him with the cable ties, she doubled the plastic grips, put hand cuffs on him and then bundled him up with duct tape. Castle tried to imagine himself in a different place, which proved to be unsuccessful. Almost immediately his mind went to his novels, desperately trying to take himself away from his current situation.

Unaware of exactly how much time had passed, Samantha retuned. She found Castle asleep in the chair, she stared longingly at him for a while then finally, fed up with the fact that he hadn't woken, shoved the chair over backwards. Castle woke as soon as he felt the vertigo of falling, he tried to correct the tipping but it was too late he hit the cold cement ground and he groaned as the air was forced out of him.

Castle's head was spinning, from a combination of being pushed over, hitting his head on the ground and not having anything to drink or eat for the last twelve hours. Richard moaned before picking his head up as far as he could to look at Samantha. "What the hell was that for?" He asked, slowly lowering his head back down.

Samantha shrugged. "You were sleeping, not paying attention to me, I had to get your attention." She barked and stood over him, a scowl on her face.

Castle grimaced and nodded. "Well, you certainly have it now." He exhaled through his mouth, his head was killing him. Samantha noticed the pain on Castle's face and dropped to her knees and suddenly showed concern.

"I'm sorry darling, did I hurt you?" Samantha caressed his brown hair and then struggled to get him up right in the chair once more. Richard looked around as she did so, wondering when Kate and everyone else would come through the door to rescue him from his crazy woman.

xxx

It was now ten minutes until five in the evening, and the whole team walked cautiously through a heavy metal door way and into an empty warehouse. A uniformed officer led them through a series of door way and into a wide and vacant space. "Couple of real estate agents were walking the area about to sell the place to a new company when they found her here."

Beckett looked at the body, she had light red hair, a fair completion. Her cheeks were scattered with freckles and then she had a huge gash on her temporal lobe. The detective frowned and pulled on a pair of blue nitrile gloves. She lifted up the woman's shirt just a bit and found the same black marks over her chest. Lanie had some tests done and found out that it was your average, black pen ink from a ball point pen. The killer had inflicted the wounds postmortem. It was obvious the that attacker was a bit angry to abuse an already dead body in such a fashion.

Ryan and Esposito hovered above, they could already tell that this was the same crime scene as the one in the park. So when Beckett pulled a piece of paper from the woman's dead hand, they weren't surprised at all. "What does it say?" Ryan asked, bit his lip hoping that there would be no indication that Castle was missing.

Kate read the note a few times, just to make sure her eyes weren't fooling her, finally she spoke up, in a quite, almost timid voice. "I have acquired your fortress."


	4. Five, Six, Seven

AN: There is language in this chapter. Well, one word. Said only once.

* * *

Beckett realized at once what the note really meant, although she kept her ideas to herself until the team returned to the station and she tacked the note up right next to the other one on the murder board. Ryan and Esposito came into the room later. After giving information to Lanie about the crime scene and updating the captain. When they walked up behind the lead detective.

Kate had written, _'I have Castle.' _Which was probably the simplest version of the message. "Castle is missing," She said capping the marker and carefully setting it down. "He went home at ten last night and the was last we've heard from him, so he has been missing for at least eighteen hours and we have no true starting point to start looking for him."

xxx

Castle went to close his eyes, but was awaken by a slap to the face. His body jerked at the sudden tingling sensation on his face. Samantha glared at him, the woman was only sitting a few inches in front of him, her chin resting on a closed fist, propped up by her elbow on the arm of the chair. With a smile she looked at him, "You fell asleep-" and in an instance her smile faded. "again." She said in a flat voice.

"Well I'm sorry, but I haven't the chance to get any real sleep, coupled with the lack of food and water it is difficult to stay awake." He sneered. "And what time is it anyway?"

Samantha shrugged and lazily looked at her watch. "Almost seven."

Immediately Castle knew that she meant in the evening, it had been far to long to only have been missing for three hours. That almost made him feel better because at this point Kate had to know that he was missing and if not, his mother would wonder where he has been all day.

xxx

Alexis look at the clock on the wall and huffed, she had gotten home from school a few hours ago, she stayed after for the new chess club that just started and she got home around four. When she came home to an empty loft she didn't ask questions. Alexis assumed that her father was investigating some crime scene with Detective Beckett and that her Grandmother was out, doing what ever it was that Martha did during the day.

Except when five o'clock, six then seven came and went she started getting curious. Alexis made herself dinner and punched her father's cell phone number into her phone and let it ring. Immediately she heard his ring tone fill the room, the young red head followed the sound and found her father's phone sitting on his desk. She hung up and the other phone beeped, indicating a missed call. Alexis looked at the screen, he had fourteen missed calls.

Scrolling through the list, one, the most recent, was from Alexis, then the other thirteen were from Beckett, her cell phone and work number. Immediately, that told her that her father was not with Kate. She used her father's phone to call Beckett.

It was officially declared, Richard Castle was missing and somehow connected to the murder of two women. Kate stood in front of the murder board. Esposito was thinking out loud. "Why would the kidnapper tell use that we will never find Castle, then tell us he's been kidnapped?" Everyone agreed with him, that it did seem a bit strange but the whole situation was strange.

Kate sat at her desk while Ryan and Esposito tried to work things out. She couldn't help but stare at her unofficial partner's empty seat. Beckett was brought back to reality when her cell phone started vibrating in her pocket, with haste she fished it out and read the caller ID, _'Richard Castle'. _She didn't know what to feel. "I have been waiting to hear from you all day, do you know that." Kate said.

Alexis waited. "Oh- this is Alexis." She said, aware that the detective clearly thought it was her father.

"Alexis-" Kate sighed, not really the person she wanted to talk to. Her reasoning being that, since Castle hadn't called, he was missing. Which meant Alexis was going to want to know where he was and she didn't have any answer for her. "Have you heard from your father?"

The younger Castle shook her head. "No, that's why I was calling." Alexis bit her lip, as she looked at the desk, nothing else was missing and his wallet was sitting in plain view as well. "You- uh, haven't heard or seen him today?"

Being a trained detective, Kate could already pick up the worry in Castle's daughter's voice. Something deep inside her compelled her to make her want to lie, but she kept that feeling pushed away. "No- I haven't. Is Martha there?" Hoping that Castle had called his own mother, at least. Alexis told her she wasn't and also was not aware where she was either. "Tell you what, Alexis, I'll finish up here then head over there okay?"

This calmed the young one down, just a bit. "That sounds good."

Kate smiled, even though Alexis couldn't see it. "Alright, I'll be over with in the hour."

xxx

Castle glared at Samantha, who was still toying with him. Demonstrating these drastic mood swings. She'd hit him, slap him and then apologize and almost break down into tears. Richard was growing tired of her act and he still couldn't remember her. The two had been quiet for the last hour, give or take. Then Samantha broke the awkward silence.

"I just want you to know, that what ever happens, we will always be together." She smiled, the crazed woman did have a nice set of pearly whites. Except she had the look of a psychopath twinkling in her bright blue eyes. Castle went to ask what she meant but she just shook her head and pressed a slender index pointer to his lips. "I have already started getting rid of everyone who would be in our way, the people that would stop us from having a wonderful life together."

The author narrowed his eyes out of confusion and leaned back to get her hand out of face. "Getting rid of?" A quick shake of his head and he went on. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't worry- they won't be around to bother us any more. Never again." The way she spoke genuinely gave him the creeps. Except he realized what she meant, she was killing people so they could, in her messed up world, be together.

"You are fucking insane." Castle squirmed, trying to get free once more, but it was still no use. Samantha clenched her jaw and quickly stood up from her seat and balled her hand into a fist.

"Well, if that is how you are going to talk to me fine." The woman spat and pushed her own chair over. Sitting in the corner was a large bag and she dug through it, Castle only hoped that she wasn't going to pull out any more syringes full of strange sedatives. To his relief she didn't, although she did return with a large roll of gray duct tape. Samantha ripped off a large piece of tapped his mouth closed. "Now you can't talk at all." Well, that was better than being injected with something.

It was almost as if Samantha could hear his thoughts of reprieve, because she introduced a hypodermic needle in front of him. He swallowed as her bright white teeth appeared beneath her spreading red lips. "It's only because I love you, and can't lose you." The end of the needle punctured the side of his neck and she applied pressure to the plunger, injecting his again with the liquid that caused his eye lids to grow heavy and his heart rate to decrease.

Once she was sure the author was unconscious she kissed his forehead and looked at a few photos she had laid out, the first two had red X's and the last three we're unmarked, for as of right now.


	5. Vice Like Grip

Ryan and Esposito were two of the only officers in the station, it was some time after midnight and Kate had since left to go to Castle's loft. They would rather her go then themselves. Since they were friends with Martha and Alexis they couldn't imagine being the one's to tell them that Castle has been missing for, what they knew, over twenty-four hours.

It didn't take long to ID the second victim, her wallet was in her purse, which was near the body. Elizabeth Snyder, single, no children and lived by herself. Both of her parents had passed away in a highway pile up two years ago. To really make things better, she was an only child. They had no clue how this woman was connected to Castle, Inskeep was a fan of his work and had a crush on him, but they had no one to ask about Snyder.

xxx

Alexis had fallen asleep on the couch, her worry, pacing about the house and cries of wanting her father back made her exhausted and against her own will and fell asleep. Kate and Martha were still awake, taking residence in the kitchen. Martha was on her third glass of wine and Kate only had a glass of water. It was quite, the only sounds were the clock ticking and traffic outside.

"So you have no leads?" Martha finally said, fed up with not know where her son is.

Beckett could only shake her head. "The first victim, was a young woman that happened to have a crush on Castle, her name was Allison Inskeep and the second woman was older, lived alone and we have no ties to her and Castle." She sipped the water.

"What was her name?" Martha asked, swirling the red wine in her glass.

"Elizabeth Snyder." Kate said, staring down at her hands. Castle's mother reached over and placed her hand over Beckett's.

"Elizabeth Snyder, Lizzy, Liz Snyder?" She asked quickly, Kate lifted her head up and squinted her eyes a bit.

"Yes, why, do you know her?" Obviously she did, since Martha was referring to her by nicknames.

"Of course, and I know how she knew Richard as well." A smile formed over her lips, which was almost bitter sweet, because she knew how she knew Castle, but the young lady was dead. "Richard and her dated in college, for about a year. Longest relationship he had while in college." She added.

Detective Beckett pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Excuse me." She said and left the apartment to call Ryan and Esposito.

xxx

The sedative wore off once more and Castle came too. His surroundings stayed fuzzy for a few minutes after he woke up. He was alone, again, and he didn't mind that at all. Samantha disturbed him, more so than anyone else he's met or anything else he's seen or read. Even written for that matter. His limbs were still bound and his mouth still taped close. Richard wanted to sleep, but his mind was running at a million miles a minute and he was on edge, for when ever Samantha would enter the room. The worst she'd done was sedate him and the slap to the face. Although he still wanted nothing to do with her.

As he looked around the room, Castle saw that one of the steak knifes that she had used to eat dinner was still sitting out. He assumed that Samantha figured that he would be asleep longer. Castle glanced about, once he was sure that his kidnapper wasn't going to barge in at that second he started scooting the chair towards the table. He just thought about the time that he had Alexis tie him up, to make his escape true for his novel. Of course, this time he really was kidnapped and he was secured with more than just duct tape.

The trip to the table felt like it took hours but he finally hit the edge of the table. The knife was only a foot away from him, but just out of reach. Castle laid his head on the table and forced the whole white table cloth to move towards him, soon the knife was balancing on the edge. His palms were face down but he was able to turn his right hand upwards just enough so when he knocked the knife from the table, he successfully caught it. Castle carefully manipulated the knife to turn it around and start sawing through the duct tape.

Castle was so engrossed in his work he didn't hear Samantha re-enter the warehouse. By the time he was aware of her presence it was too late. She snatched the knife from his hand and clutched it in her fist tightly. "Trying to escape, huh?" She demanded of him, anger boiling in her voice. Castle avoided eye contact at all costs, but eventually she grabbed him by the chin and forced him to look at her. "You cannot leave! If I can't have you, no one can."

Those were the exact words he didn't want to hear. "You mean so much to me Richard." She cried and still held her vice-like grip on his chin. "And to really make sure you won't go anywhere." Samantha finally let go of his face, she left behind white finger marks that faded. Castle watched the woman, her back was turned to him and he couldn't help but feel the worry build up inside him.

It happened so quickly, like a white blaze of lightening. Castle felt the stabbing pain, but it took him another full minute to realize that Samantha had stabbed him in right wrist and through the arm rest of the chair. His mouth clenched, the tape prevented him from screaming. Samantha smiled. "Don't try that again, or I'll stab somewhere else." She seethed and left the room, leaving the knife sticking out of his arm.

xxx

Samantha crouched in the darkness, she stared out and her eyes were fixated like a predator watching prey. She stared at one of the unmarked pictures and then up once again. Walking down the side walk was a young woman, who clearly was in a hurry to get somewhere. She had long brown hair and was talking on a cell phone as she briskly hurried to her destination. Samantha appeared from the darkness of the alley way and kept her distance away from the woman in front of her.

As she advanced she looked for something heavy to pick up, a lose brick was sitting by a pile of trash. After she got a good grip on it, she jogged to catch up with the woman, tapped her on the shoulder. The soon-to-be victim turned around to see who it was, but everything happened so quickly, she was struck on the side of the head with the brick and everything went black, her cell phone dropped and the back popped off, the battery fell out as she crumpled to the ground.

Samantha discarded the brick in the sewer drain and dragged the limp body into the alley way next to her. After she found a rather hidden spot she took out a slender pen wrote a note on a plain piece of white paper. Samantha centered herself and suddenly felt anger and used her pen to stab the woman over and over. Blood covered the pen. she sighed and looked to the woman's face. "I just love him and can't have you get in the way."


	6. Unkempt Sheets

The word came in that another victim was found, she too had a note grasped in her hand and the same black ink covered puncture wounds on her abdomen as the other bodies. Ryan and Esposito arrived at the scene first. They hadn't talked to Detective Beckett since their call was dropped the night before. They had tried to call her back, but every time it just went straight to voicemail. The two male detectives approached the supine body. "Oh, my God!" Esposito exclaimed as they came into view of the victim.

Ryan quickly looked to his partner and furrowed his eyebrows. "What?" He asked with haste, looking at the body and then too Javier.

"I can't believe they blew it, the last thirty seconds of the game and they lost." He said as he stared at the screen of his phone, reading up on last night's basketball game. Ryan shook his head, he thought it was something more important than that.

"Put the sports away, Esposito." A voice told him from behind.

Esposito looked over his shoulder and saw Detective Beckett walking up to the scene. "There you are, what happened last night? The line went dead."

Kate pulled out a pair gloves from her pocket and snapped them on. "The battery died and by the time I got home to plug it in, it was well past three." She said and crouched down next to the young woman. The two other detectives nodded. Esposito finished reading the recap of the game and slipped his phone back into his pocket.

The brunette detective looked over the victim's features, she looked peaceful, but at the same time she could almost see the fear immortalized on her face at the time of her demise. The young woman's shirt was disheveled and Kate could clearly see the puncture wounds from the pen. Then, like clockwork, in her hand was the white piece of paper. It took a bit of force to remove the note from her stiff hand.

The paper remained crumpled as Kate held it in her open palm. A small part of her shrank back, not wanting to open the note to see what it would reveal. Beckett could feel the other detectives and officers watching her and she finally pulled the paper apart. In the same hand writing as the previous notes was written, _'The stronghold will always be in my possession.'_

xxx

Blood dripped steadily into a crimson pool on the ground. The flow had slowed down from the initial injury, but still dripped on occasion. Richard Castle looked at the knife sticking out of his arm, the hilt of the knife was only about an inch away from hitting his skin. The pain was still intense but his limb had started to numb. Castle stared at the wound and still couldn't comprehend what happened.

His eyes fluttered for a moment and he suddenly felt really nauseous. His mouth started to salivate and he could feel his stomach churn. Richard fought off the feeling as best as he could. His mouth was still taped shut and if he got sick he wouldn't be able to expel it from his body and he had done research. If someone threw up with out being able to actually vomit, they could easily choke to death or suffocate on their own vomit. Something he didn't want to do. He leaned his head back and let his eyes close. Castle took a few deep breaths in and out his nose and let the feeling pass. Slowly he opened his eyes, unsure if this sickness had passed. Although Samantha was standing right above him, he had come to find.

Samantha's eyes flickered to the knife and then to his face. She could see that he looked completely pale and a bit green. In a moment she ripped the tape from his face. Richard didn't even groan at the pain from removing the duct tape, he just immediately turned to the side and retched all over the floor. Once he was sure nothing else was going to come up he spit to get the sour taste of bile out of his mouth. Samantha had left the room the instant he got sick, but she returned with a cool wash cloth and patted his forehead and cleaned the corners of his mouth.

"Aw, sweetie, are you getting sick?" She asked and placed the back of her hand on his forehead. "You don't feel warm." She said, letting her hand slide down to feel his cheeks, which were still flushed from throwing up. Castle was going to make a remark, but just kept his thoughts to himself, afraid of what else she might do.

"Yeah, I think I'm coming down with something." Castle muttered, his voice weak and hoarse. The acidic dry heave left his throat burning and he wanted nothing more but a drink of water. Samantha continued to tend to him like a mother to a child. She squeezed some of the excess water out to let it run down his face. A salty tear fell from his eye, completely undetectable, camouflaged by the water on his face.

xxx

Alexis sat at the bar in the kitchen, staring at her homework. Her teachers weren't aware of the current situation, of her father missing. She didn't want them to know, if they did it would become a huge deal. Not that any other missing person wouldn't cause such a fuss, but her father was rather well known and would make a huge cover page splash, then she wouldn't be able to find time to herself for even a second. Unable to focus she shut her books, folded her arms over one another and buried her face.

Martha walked up behind her, she too was worried about her son but she was able to control her emotions a little more, but just barely. "Don't worry sweetheart, Detective Beckett is doing her best to find your father." She reassured her in a soothing voice and rubbed her back.

A muffled response came from the teenager, Martha couldn't understand what she said, but she wasn't going to ask Alexis to repeat herself. As Martha consoled her granddaughter a knock came from the door. She left Alexis at the counter to answer the door. Beckett was in the hallway and she smiled a bit. It was hard to muster a true smile in such a depressing time. "Hello, Martha," She started, Kate rocked on her heels a bit. "I was hoping to look around, maybe find something to get an idea of what happened here?" Martha agreed and stepped aside to let the detective into the apartment.

Kate said hello to Alexis, but she didn't say anything back, even if she did, Beckett couldn't hear or understand her. She looked around the upper level of the apartment, there was nothing out of the ordinary, or in the kitchen, living room and dinning area. Beckett found her way into Castle's bedroom and she stood at the door way, she perked an eyebrow as she looked around. His bed was unkempt, but he probably hadn't planned on being kidnapped and didn't have time to make it look presentable. Although, something inside her made her guess that Castle probably didn't even make his bed when he woke up in the morning anyway.

Beckett entered the room and was careful not to disturb anything, although she was sure that there wasn't anything that had to be preserved. The detective looked at the clock, it was almost noon. She looked at the photos that were on the walls, they were mostly of family, a few of Castle meeting people that he viewed as important. She smiled at one of Castle and Alexis when she was younger, playing in the park.

Nothing was out of the ordinary, nothing was around that would indicate where Castle was or who had taken him. After a few more minutes of investigating Kate sat on the edge of Castle's bed, she ran her and over his sheets, smoothing out some wrinkles. Out of all the cases that she had worked in her past, this was the second most frustrating one that she'd been assigned too. It was almost as much as a dead end as her mother's case.

Except this case was different, Kate could not give up. Castle was still alive and she had to find him. Beckett sighed and fell backwards, her head landing on his pillows. She turned her head, as if she was going to look at someone laying next to her. She imagined Castle laying there, and what smart ass remark he would make that she was in his bed. It made her smile and miss the arrogant writer even more.

Kate turned her head forwards and closed her eyes, a tear fell from her eye when she reopened them. In a hushed voice she whispered, "Castle-, where are you?"


	7. Like A Lion On An Injured Zebra

AN: I apologize for the wait, I've been dealing with finals. It's one of my favorites so far, enjoy!

* * *

The sun started its decent to hide behind the horizon. The blue sky changed into a Technicolor of reds, oranges, yellows and pinks. Long shadows started forming from the buildings and other objects. The long silhouette of a woman was cast on the sidewalk. Samantha found a bench and remained seated there until the sun was completely hidden and the sky was dark. She patiently watched the building across the street, she waited, calculated and schemed.

A quick glance at her watch, a half an hour after seven, and from the building left a woman that she followed with her eyes until she turned the corner. Samantha waited a few minutes before she rose from her spot and crossed the street to pursue the young woman. As she followed her next victim, street lights began to turn on and created a dim illumination. Samantha stood on the other side of the street as the unsuspecting woman walked through the cross walk.

Looking around, she pulled a large, loose piece of sidewalk from the ground. It only took her a moment to catch up to her soon to be fourth victim, Samantha raised the large piece of cement above her head and brought it down with great force. Hitting the woman on the side of the head, creating a sudden flow of blood. The woman fell like a sack of bricks and landed with a thud on the ground. Samantha grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her to a more secluded hiding place. Where she went on to finish her signature, the puncture wounds and the not-so cryptic note.

xxx

Beckett had returned to the police station once she had gotten as much as she could from the crime scene. Kate wasn't in the station for more than a few seconds when Ryan grabbed her attention and directed her to one of the interrogation rooms. She stood with him on the other side of the one way mirror, in the room was a gentleman, who had a chiseled jaw and combed back, black hair. "Ex-husband of the third victim. Kevin Tyree." Ryan said, Esposito walked into the room a few moments later.

Kate nodded quickly, approving. "Does he know how she knew Castle?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips and stared at the man. Who clearly looked bored as he stared at his finger nails and picked at them.

"Yeah, apparently, she worked at the publishing firm that produced most of Castle's novels." Esposito said as he looked at file folder. "Even better part, apparently the two were romantically linked a few times." He shut the folder and tucked it under his arm. "And the ex-husband is pretty upset and not because she's dead."

Detective Beckett didn't have to hear anymore. She composed herself and entered the interrogation room. As soon as she opened the door Kevin quickly glanced up, an annoyed look on his face. "Well it's about time- do you have any idea of how long I've been waiting here?" He complained and repositioned in his chair.

"I'm sorry for your wait, Mr. Tyree. We've been busy." Kate said, taking the seat across from him. She quickly glanced to the other chair next to her, a part of her waiting and expecting Castle to take the seat, but it didn't move.

"Yeah, yeah." He said and sank down in to his chair.

"Now, Mr. Tyree, do you know of anyone that would to want to have hurt your wife?" She asked, leaning over the table and lacing her fingers together.

Kevin just shook his head. "No, and she's not my wife, ex, ex-wife." He said, making sure to put emphasis on the 'ex' part. Kate made a note of that.

"From what I understand, you're ex-wife was friends with Richard Castle." She said watching his expressions. Kevin didn't budge, he was cold as stone and didn't change his disposition a bit.

"Friends." Kevin scoffed, he ran his tongue along the inside of lips, clearly Kate had hit a nerve. "Yeah, they were friendly." He said and huffed through his nose, flaring his nostrils. "What does that have to do with anything?" He questioned, narrowing his eyes.

"We believe that you're ex-wife was murdered due to a relationship that she had with Mr. Castle." After she said it out loud. She realized it sounded a bit absurd, but that was how the trend was moving. Mr. Tyree clenched his jaw.

"I told her that he was no good, I told her not to see him again." He fists curled under the table. "I _told _her that he'd ruin her life. He's a pig and an arrogant bastard," Kevin pivoted his head a bit and took a deep breath. "And he ruined my marriage." As this point Mr. Tyree was seething, his neck was strained and he adjusted his jaw. Boiling in anger he slammed his fist on the table. Kate's eyes went wide and she slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder towards the mirror.

In the observation room Ryan and Esposito looked to each other and raised their eyebrows and then back to the two in the interrogation room. Kate licked her lips and nodded very slowly. "I see Mr. Tyree," She cleared her throat. "And, how is that?"

Kevin relaxed his taunt muscles and centered himself. "My wife slept with him. Sure, at that point we were already separated, but I thought we'd be able to give our marriage a second chance." Kevin pursed his lips and tightened his shoulders. "Except he pounced on her like a lion on a injured zebra when he found out she was single." Kevin diverted his attention, as he did so, Kate looked around the room, feeling uncomfortable being around him.

"Right." She said plainly and stood to her feet. "Will you excuse me, Mr. Tyree. We're done here." Kate went to the door and kept her hand on the knob for a moment. "Mr. Tyree, please, don't leave town." She said and opened the door, leaving the still irate man to cool down before letting him leave the precinct.

xxx

The room was constantly spinning, everything was a blur. Castle let his head fall back, he sucked in air through his mouth and smacked his lips together. His throat and mouth was dry as the desert. His stomach growled, but there was nothing to digest and his head was throbbing. It had been almost two days since he had anything to eat or drink and the fatigue that it was causing on his body was very noticeable. He could barely keep his head supported and his shoulders slumped.

The knife that Samantha had stabbed him with was still protruding from his arm and the area was completely numb. After he had gone through excruciating pain, a period where it felt like pins and needles, then burning, he just finally learned to ignore it. Castle blinked lazily and took in a very deep breath but was only able to hold it for a few seconds, as it escaped his lips in a raspy whistle, Samantha entered the room. She was the last person that he felt like dealing with.

The slender woman immediately went to his side and looked at him. "Darling, you look horrible." She said and pushed the hair out of his face, it was greasy and dirty, his brow covered in sweat. Samantha caressed his cheek and rested her other hand on his shoulder. "Do you need anything?" She asked, still touching his face.

Castle mustered up everything he could and nodded towards the knife in his arm. "Take- out- the knife." He managed to get out, his voice was almost mute. Samantha's eyes glanced down to the steak knife, the wound was red and puffy, she then looked back up to his pale face. She understood. Samantha gripped the knife with both hands and yanked with all her might. The blade slipped out, the sound of it cutting the wood the chair and his skin made Castle's skin to crawl, as it was retracted.

Pain flooded back into Castle's arm and body. His eye lids fluttered quickly and his breathing increased. Samantha looked the sanguine colored blade and then to her ideal lover. "Is that better?" She asked setting the knife aside. Castle didn't say anything, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he was out cold.


End file.
